The Griswald Zone

The Zone Cross Country Carnival was yesterday. Bop finished 18th and Em finished towards the tail of the field. Em looked like she’d done it a bit tough, but after a few hugs she seemed OK . Bop seemed delighted with her result. I took a few hours off work to get out and see it, and I was glad I did. They both trained hard, and I think they both deserved a cheer squad.

My training has been going well too. On Tuesday Pat set me a 3K Time Trial – target time 14 minutes. I knew it was a little bit soft – the last 3K Time Trial I ran was 13:33.

As usual, I took off like I was being chased, and went through the first 500m in 2:07. After that I settled into a more sensible pace, and hit the turnaround in 6:45. The last 1500 were executed more evenly, and I ran in for a 13:24 – a 9 second PB.

Sunday was another excellent long run. I ran my favourite local loop, and like last week, the 21K took me exactly 2:10. I’m finding that running 4 times a week is leaving me with enough recovery time to be feeling good for the next session, and this was a good example of it. I just cruised through the run comfortably.

It’s a great run, that Parramatta River loop. When we move, which looks like it will be in about six weeks, I’ll have to work out a variation of it that starts at the new place.

On Saturday I’m running the Striders 10K at Lane Cove – which is a tough, hilly course. Pat has set me a target of 49 minutes – which would be a PB. I sent him an “are you sure?” email, and he sent me a “you’re being soft!” email. So 49 is the target, and I’m quietly shitting myself. This has the possibility to end ugly, but so far Pat has been a great judge of what I’ve been capable of, so I’ll just have to give it my best shot.

Now, things have been sorted out and I will be running the Gold Coast Half. We have decided that despite cheap flights we are better off driving up. What could be more relaxing than packing the car up with twin nine year olds, a three month old and all our stuff and driving from Sydney to Brisbane and back in a week?

No, seriously, I think this is a rite of passage for a family. Both DJ and I have similar family holidays in our memories, and in a perverse way I’m looking forward to the drive, and especially the milkshake at the Oak at Hexham and the smoothie at the Big Banana (it’s my childhood, and I’ll relive it if I want to!). It’s very Griswald.

So I’m entered in the Half and the girls are in for the 2.25K dash. Can’t wait.